For current and former students at the Gregorian University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Rome, the death of the Faculty Dean at only 49 years has been both shocking and painful.
Vatican News English Africa Service.
The Jesuit priest, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Rome’s Gregorian University, Father Jacquineau Azétsop, who died on 13 October 2021 in Rome, was put to rest on Saturday 16 October. The funeral Mass was at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Campus Martius area.
Fr Azétsop’s funeral was celebrated together with that of another Gregorian University lecturer, Fr Linus Kujur S.J, a professor in the Faculty of Missiology, who also died last week.
According to a news release of the Gregorian University, Father Azétsop had just recovered from Covid-19 in September when he underwent a delicate emergency operation following a cerebral thrombosis. He succumbed to the illness last week,
A deep commitment and responsibility
In a letter to the Gregorian University community, the Rector, Father Nuno da Silva Gonçalves S.J., described Fr Azétsop as a dedicated and generous academician.
“We have all witnessed the generosity with which Fr Azétsop led the Faculty of Social Sciences, without measuring energy or time in this mission that he lived with deep commitment and a great sense of responsibility,” said Fr Gonçalves. He added, “At this sad time, my heartfelt condolences go out to the professors, lecturers and students of the Faculty of Social Sciences and to his family, as well as to all those who knew him and have a living memory of him. We entrust Fr Azétsop to the Lord, as an expression of our gratitude for his creative service to the Church and for his teaching in our University and in various institutions around the world,” he said.
Biography
Father Jacquineau Azétsop, S.J. was born in Douala, Cameroon, in 1972 and was ordained a priest on the 21 June 2003. In 1997, he obtained a licentiate in philosophy at the Faculté de Philosophie Saint Pierre Canisius, Kinshasa (DRC). In 2002 a licentiate in theology at Hekima University College in Nairobi (Kenya), then a licentiate in theology at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge (USA). In 2007, he obtained his doctorate in social and religious ethics from the Boston College School of Arts and Sciences (USA) with a thesis entitled, “Structural violence, population health and health equity in Africa,” published in 2010.
Several students expressed sadness at the demise of the Jesuit priest and professor.
